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Understanding the Role & Impact of CBR in Mandya District of Karnataka Research Initiative
Report of First Meeting of Scientific Advisory Group
AIFO Office, Bangalore
(India)
15 – 17 April 2009
Objectives of the first
Scientific Advisory Group meeting
The
objective of the first Scientific Advisory Group meeting was to focus mainly
on defining the instruments and the methodology of the first process of
investigation “Understanding and measuring overall role and impact of CBR in
improving the quality of life of persons with different disabilities in terms
of improving their own control over their own daily lives and functionings, participation in different aspects of life,
and access to different services, over the five domains of the CBR matrix”.
Participants
The first
meeting of the Scientific Advisory Group of the research initiative had
participants representing different fields of competence and experience
related to community-based rehabilitation (CBR) including epidemiology,
biostatistics, sociology, economics, development, CBR implementation, CBR
management, personal experience of disabilities, mental health, leprosy,
quantitative and qualitative research, etc.
Background
The
research initiative coordinated by Italian Association Amici
di Raoul Follereau (AIFO/Italy) is part of joint work plan of
AIFO/Italy and the Disability and Rehabilitation team of the World Health
Organisation (WHO/DAR) and aims to understand the role and impact of CBR
approach in the lives of people with disabilities and their communities in
two CBR projects together covering Mandya district
and two small areas in neighbouring districts in south Karnataka state in
India.
The
two CBR projects managed by two non-governmental organisations (SRMAB and
MOB) in Mandya district with a total population of
1.8 million persons cover about 20,000 persons with disabilities, living in
rural, semi urban and urban areas. Both projects implement similar CBR
activities in different domains as identified in the CBR Matrix (health,
education, livelihood, social and empowerment).
Both
CBR projects have adopted similar methodology of working through trained
community CBR workers and community volunteers with active involvement and
collaboration of persons with disabilities, their families and their local
communities. Both CBR projects work with all the different groups of persons
with disabilities as identified in the WHO CBR manual – vision, hearing &
speech, movement, loss of sensation, convulsions, mental illness,
intellectual and multiple.
The
CBR project managed by SRMAB (Sri Raman Maharishi
Academy for Blind) called Malavalli Project was
initiated in 1997 in
25 villages, now reaches to about 1300 villages spread over 5 taluks
(sub-districts) with around 11,000 persons with disabilities belonging to all
the different groups of disabilities.
The
CBR project managed by MOB (Maria Olivia Bonaldo)
called Mandya Project was initiated in 1998 in 4 villages, now
reaches to 4 sub-districts and reaches about 9,000 persons with disabilities
belonging to all the different groups of disabilities.
Research Objectives
The
overall aim of the research is to understand the role and impact of CBR in
the lives of persons with disabilities, their families and communities in the
different life domains as identified in the CBR matrix (WHO, 2008).
This
research initiative is organised in three
distinct processes of research investigation that are partly
consequential and partly parallel. The three processes and their specific
aims are as follows:
Understanding and measuring overall role and impact of CBR in improving the quality of life
of persons with different disabilities in terms of improving their own
control over their own daily lives and functionings,
participation in different aspects of life, and access to different services,
over the five domains of the CBR matrix (health, education, livelihood,
social and empowerment), in terms of:
 Rural, semi urban and urban areas
Kind and severity of disabilities
Age
Gender
Kind and size of family
Educational level of persons with
disabilities or of parents of children with disabilities
Understanding the underlying factors, situations and barriers in relation to
coverage and reach of CBR
activities
different groups of persons with
disabilities such as age, gender, kind of disabilities, etc.
management and sustainability of
CBR projects, and
roles, training, and working of CBR
workers at different level.
Understanding the different issues surrounding CBR as perceived by persons with
disabilities through an emancipatory research
approach conducted by the persons with disabilities themselves.
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